The IUP Symphony Orchestra will combine with the Johnstown Symphony Youth Orchestra to perform with featured soloists Mark and Maggie O'Connor. The O'Connors are world-renowned, Grammy-winning fiddlers, and Mark O'Connor will perform his revolutionary Improvised Violin Concerto.
The concert, conducted by Alexandra Dee, assistant professor and director of Orchestral Studies, and David Anderson, director of the JSYO, will occur Sunday, November 7, at 5:00 p.m. in Fisher Auditorium. An all-American program, it will open with music by Aaron Copland and then include several fiddle selections from the O'Connor Method performed by a mass string orchestra of over 100 musicians.
The featured piece closing the concert will be O'Connor's own The Improvised Violin Concerto, in which O'Connor improvises his solo part from scratch at every performance, guaranteeing that this will be a one-of-a-kind event. Tickets are available through the Lively Arts ticket page. Attendees are asked to be masked in accordance with IUP policies.
The concert is the culmination of the O'Connors' multi-day residency at IUP, which will include several events for IUP students including a violin masterclass, a teacher-training workshop, and a fiddle technique workshop involving students and teachers from throughout the region.
On Friday, November 5, at 1:30 p.m. in Cogswell Hall room 120, Mark will present an open lecture sharing his insights into the music business and music education as gathered during his 45-year career of international performing, recording, composing, and teaching. All members of the IUP community are encouraged to attend.